But the Apple
narrative isn't just a story with ever-increasing highs. Behind all the money, drama, fanaticism and success associated with the company lie nearly equal parts failure and monotony. That's perhaps an inevitable result for a company with a three-decades-long run in a volatile sector.

Lucky for Apple, almost every disappointment or pratfall led to a bright idea that kept the company alive. For example, it took the commercial failure of the cumbersome and slow Macintosh Portable computer to give way to the svelte, ergonomic PowerBook laptop--a basic design that has stayed with the industry to this day.

The same is true of the dynamic personalities behind the technological innovations. If
Steve
Jobs
Steve Jobs
hadnt been ousted from the company and forced to watch the ten-year reign of three ineffectual chief executives, he may never have had the creative burst that led to the iMac, the iPod and iTunes.

Sometimes, Apples setbacks were plain bad luck, as in the case of the Newton--a handheld computer released a few years before the world was ready for it. When the public finally was ready to use personal digital assistants, the folks at
Palm
were the ones who benefited.

On occasion, Apple has limited its own success by setting up elitist or exclusive barriers to its products. It famously refused to license its Mac operating system until it was clear that it was getting clobbered by a combination of
Microsoft
and
Intel
. When Apple finally attempted to open up, the PC market yawned.

Now Apple is recording record sales and earnings, plus more applause from Wall Street than ever. But while Apple has plenty of rabid fans, the company also has plenty of detractors who can imagine a future where the company becomes little more than a cult brand.

Pundits continue to predict that Apple's high price points for some of its products will spell its demise. Or they argue that Apple's refusal to open up its digital rights management system, which prevents iPod and iTunes customers from playing with competitors' products, will do the same. Another Apple doomsday scenario posits that Jobs will be distracted while he attempts to wield power at
The Walt Disney Co.
, where he now has a board seat via the acquisition of his
Pixar
animation studio.

Has Apple finally figured out how to learn from its mistakes? Judge for yourself by viewing some of Apple's most prominent lowlights.